


Two of us against the world (Currently being abandoned or rewritten)

by ThatForestPrince



Series: Wild rose-briar. [1]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3, Fallout film treatment
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Misgendering, Trans Male Character, possibly ooc for some characters like butch because im making him less of an asshole, trans author
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-24
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-09-25 19:00:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20376526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatForestPrince/pseuds/ThatForestPrince
Summary: Vault 101 had always been different, ever since the moment it was brought to the drawing board. Turns out it’s inhabitants are the same.





	Two of us against the world (Currently being abandoned or rewritten)

**Author's Note:**

> Please heed the tags (which will change with each update)!! This fic could be extremely triggering to some people and will eventually contain a lot of misgendering, slurs and violence. The misgendering and slurs will come from other characters through their speech and thoughts (pronouns will change depending on how the character perceives the lone wanderer) and I will be referring to the trans lone wanderer in a neutral manner and with no name up until they come out (which happens very early on). The lone wanderer's experience with gender dysphoria is based around my own experience with it, so please don’t come at me if you think it's stereotypical or whatever.
> 
> Also note that I haven’t actually played Fallout 3 yet, so my understanding of the story is based off of playthroughs online and the nukapedia. This fic also contains elements from the Fallout film treatment script, which is really bad so I don’t recommend reading it, and Fallout: Van Buren. Both had some great ideas so I decided I’d use them to make Vault 101 a little more interesting/fun to write.

Vault 101 had been different from the moment it came up on the drawing board. A huge vault that would be sealed for as long as possible, housing an entire population of people for hundreds of years to come. Pretty late into the project, Vault-Tec realized that these inhabitants would need some kind of entertainment to keep them docile for all this time. What did they come up with? A giant simulation of sunny San Francisco, of course!! This idea would allow them to reuse old concepts and attract plenty of curious D.C. inhabitants. If only they had the money for something full scale...

The doctor’s child had always been different as well. Early on in their life, they were described as an “anti-social tomboy” by the other vault residents, being quiet at best and stand-offish and snappy at worst. If one were to read the Overseer’s terminal or the clinic’s logs, they would find that the person was plagued by a whole host of issues, both mental and physical. But not many people in the vault knew. It wasn’t much of a surprise to anyone when they began hanging out with the other outcast kids of the vault, most notably was Butch Deloria.

Butch was similar. He had always been different, except it seemed like he was angry at almost everyone the moment he came out of the womb. He very quickly made the Tunnel Snakes, mostly made up of other outcasts in the vault and any kids that he didn’t hate, that would terrorize the vault with their gang activity.

Luckily, the doctor’s kid seemed to keep the newly formed Tunnel Snakes in check, even if they weren’t an actual member. They made sure that the gang didn’t do anything outside of petty crimes like stealing or vandalism. They fought constantly, another fact that the overseer lamented about in his terminal entries, but anyone who looked at them interacting when not fighting could tell they trusted each other. When the doctor’s kid wasn’t glued to Butch’s side, they were shadowing the overseer’s daughter, Amata. Seeing as Amata had been their friend since they were both just babies, it made sense that she was one of the few people who could get past all the walls the kid had up.

And that’s how everything stayed, for a while anyway.

\----------

They had felt.. wrong all fucking day. They had felt wrong before but it had never gotten this bad. They had to repress the urge to grab at their hair or scratch down their arms as they slowly made their way onto the tram. Maybe it had been the teasing from the other girls in class, maybe it was the dream they had last night that had made them feel so horrible.

Oh, thank god, there was Amata. They rushed over and took a seat beside their friend who was busy reading the newsletter on her pip-boy. They sighed softly as they stared wistfully out the window of the tram at the passing city scenery. “I had that dream again. Where I went fishing in the gardens and caught a live fish. It struggled and gaped just like a real fish, in the movies.”

The vault’s botanical gardens were certainly impressive, but the vault didn’t keep any live animals other than cats and livestock. They doubted the fake garden rivers could sustain any fish, anyway. Amata gave them a concerned look out of the corner of her eye. “I don’t think it’s healthy to dream of fish. You should go get your dad to evaluate you.”

“You know I can’t go to my dad about this shit. He’ll think I want to leave the vault! Plus,” They gave a dry chuckle. “He’s just a doctor, not a psychologist.”

At almost that exact moment, the scenery outside flickered a few moments before disappearing, leaving the tram car darkened in its absence. They stare out at the featureless concrete, feeling anger rising in their chest, as a feminine voice comes over the garbled speaker. “Due to technical difficulties, there will be no view this morning. We apologize for this inconvenience.”

Fucking great. Now they couldn’t even enjoy their favorite part of their commute back home from school. This had been happening more and more often lately, but every time they asked about it their father always brushed it off. Distantly, they wondered if they would have to leave the vault if the power generator finally gave up the ghost.

The feeling of wrongness only got worse as the ride progressed. Bad.. Bad.. Bad, everything was fucking bad. They gripped tight to the seat as panic rose in their chest. 

As soon as the tram stopped and the doors opened, they burst out of the doors and ran to find somewhere where they could go and calm the hell down.

\----------

It had been an impulse that they did this. The strange feeling of wrongness throughout their entire body had just gotten so intense, they had to do _ something _about it. The action of bringing the pocket knife up to their long hair almost felt natural to them. As the hair fell to the floor, a strong sense of relief filled them. That’s when the realization finally came to them, they were a man. That was the only explanation that made sense.

He had been throwing the idea around in his head for a while now, but this was the moment he _ really _thought about it. He was a guy. It felt right.

He had to tell someone. Of course, Butch and Amata were the first to come to mind. They were basically his only friends. He couldn’t tell Amata, at least not yet, she might tell her father... It had to be Butch then. Of course it had to be Butch. Their friendship had started off rocky at first, as the doctor’s son had basically just suddenly started following Butch around the vault. After a confrontation, they had become basically friends. 

The friendship certainly wasn’t normal, especially lately, as they often took all their anger and frustration out on each other in brawls that often left one of them with something broken. It was a mutual understanding between them that they would fight whenever either of them felt particularly pent up with their anger towards the vault and overseer. After their fights, they’d usually just sit and relax for a while. They rarely talked at all, but it was usually only him rambling on about his interests in science and machines while Butch listened patiently. Basically, him and Butch didn’t actually, y’know, talk about their feelings much but… His choices were extremely limited.

More importantly, he could trust Butch not to tell anyone about this. There was a possibility that Amata would tell her father about it. Butch was like him and disliked the authority of the vault just as much as he did.

He stared at himself in the mirror for a few moments, observing how upset he actually looked, tossing the idea around in his head a few times, before bolting out of the bathroom and towards the Deloria residence.

\----------

Butch had spent the last hour carefully constructing a new tunnel snakes jacket, stitching the iconic snake into the jacket as best he could. Paul was usually the one to make the jackets, but this was a special case. This jacket had been a long time in the making, Butch had been trying to convince the others to let his weird friend into the group for years. Finally, Wally had agreed. If him and Wally agreed on something, then it would be done no matter what the other Tunnel Snakes thought. Him and Wally were the leaders after all.

If Butch was being honest, he had really come to like the doctor’s kid. It was really weird at first, seeing the kid watching him from afar. After he found out the kid was just lonely though, all he felt was pity. He knew what it was like to be an outcast and to have most of the vault population dislike you. Though he usually didn’t like hanging out around girls, he couldn’t help but befriend them. 

He had quickly found that they were quite the fighter. The first time they fought had been due to an argument, but Butch had been pleasantly surprised by their fighting skills. It wasn’t long after that they made it a regular occurrence. Any time one or both of them got particularly angry at something they’d seek each other out and brawl out their problems. It probably wasn’t healthy, but Butch didn’t give a shit.

So, of course Butch wanted to make their new tunnel snakes jacket himself. His mother was blacked out drunk in her room, so he could work on the jacket in the living room in peace. He was just about halfway done when a loud rapid knocking sounded on the door, making him jump and almost stab himself with the sewing needle. He set the jacket down and ran over to open the door, which slid up with a quiet whoosh. The sight in front of him was enough to spark a good amount of worry.

His strange friend stood outside the door, their long hair had been cut short and they looked like they had been crying. He didn’t even question it, just quickly ushered them into the tiny apartment and over to the couch. Butch knew this was something that couldn’t be fixed with punching. “Have you been crying? What’s the matter?”

They don’t answer right away, just fall down into the soft couch and wipe the tears away from their eyes with the palms of their hands. They exhaled loudly through their nose as they tried to compose themselves, before looking nervously up at their friend. “I’m… I think… I think I’m like, a man. Like- Like, I don’t feel right as a woman. Like, I’m meant to be a man…”

As they rambled on, Butch wasn’t listening. He was too busy having a crisis. He had never heard of anything like this at all, was it even possible? To.. To just change your gender like that? Had it ever even happened in the vault before? Of course, this is when he tuned back into his friend’s rambling. “...and I just get so so upset. I can’t fucking take being a woman anymore, I can’t do it.”

Butch didn’t even think, just reached out and took their hand in his own. He decided then that it didn’t matter, he just had to support his crying friend. Butch really wasn’t the best with emotional things, so he would have to just try something he was good at that wasn’t fighting. “Hey hey uh it’s... it’s okay… Do.. Do you want me to fix your hair? I can make you look all cool, like me.”

He knew he said the right thing when his friend beamed up at him.

10 minutes later, Butch had his friend seated on a kitchen chair that had been dragged into the tiny apartment bathroom. The G.O.A.T. exam was coming up in a few months and the doctor’s son was beginning to think Butch might just end up the new hairdresser. After a little deliberation on what his friend wanted, it wasn’t long until any semblance of his old hair was left scattered in pieces on the bathroom floor. About halfway through the haircut and long after his friend had stopped crying, he spoke up. “I’m going to need a new name… What do you think I should pick?”

Butch froze in his careful movements as he thought over the question in his head before saying casually. “Maybe you should pick a sorta greaser name.”

His friend turned to look back at Butch, amusement and slight confusion dancing across his features. There was that hint of mischievousness that Butch had come to expect from his friend. “What’s with you and wanting me to be a Tunnel Snake, like you, huh?”

Butch felt a blush creep onto his face as he rushed to explain himself. “W-Well I finally convinced Wally you could join the gang yesterday! The reason he didn’t want ya’ in is because you were a girl, but you’re not anymore so it isn’t a problem!”

His friend stared at him for a few moments before looking back towards the mirror and chuckling dryly. “I don’t think they’ll accept me being like.. like this. Or anyone for that matter…”

Butch frowned at that. “Since when has that ever stopped ‘ya? Who cares what the hell the rest of the vault thinks. We’re Tunnel Snakes! If the other guys don’t get ‘ya then.. Well, they ain’t Tunnel Snakes.”

He couldn’t believe he was just… laying down everything for this random guy who he fought with almost once every week. The other man shot him an exasperated but amused glance out of the corner of his eye. “You’re a real piece of work, Butch.”

“What can I say, man? The ladies love me.” He then went back to working on his friend’s hair, quietly noting how the other man leaned into Butch’s touch every time he ran his fingers through the other’s hair to reposition it. “Anyway, I’m thinkin something like Vince. So you would be Vince Karelin.”

After a few moments, his friend burst into laughter, giggling and snickering in a way that had Butch’s heart stuttering. What the hell, was he sick? He had never felt like this around the other man.. Maybe it was because this was the first time they were talking, y’know, like normal people. “Like that actor from that shitty romance movie in the archives? Vince Natali? That’s so fucking stupid, I love it. Vince it is, then.”

\----------

About an hour later, Vince was relaxing on Butch’s living room couch as his hair dried. Hair dryers weren’t allowed to be operated in the vault anymore to save on energy, so they had to dry hair the old-fashioned way.

Butch had silently continued working on the Tunnel Snakes jacket while Vince played games on his pipboy. Suddenly, the other man sighed and leaned back against the couch to stare at the ceiling. “I’m gonna have to tell my fucking dad about this… He isn’t going to take it well.”

Now that was confusing. He always saw Vince’s dad as perfect, the thing Butch never had. He could admit that he had been jealous of Vince since like forever, but that feeling had quieted down with their friendship. “But he’s your dad, isn’t he? He loves ya.”

“Yeah, he does but he loves this motherfucking vault more. He hates how quiet and 'anti-social' I am cause it doesn’t “fit in with vault standards.” I doubt _ this _,” he gestured to himself angrily. “, is something up to vault standard.”

Before Butch could even start to form a response Vince sighed again. “Can I crash here tonight? Think I need some time to think about what I’m gonna say to my dad and Amata.”

Butch began to pack up his sewing supplies so he could move them back into his room so Vince could have free range of the couch. “‘Course. Doubt my ma will care much, she won't be awake again till noon.”

“Now... “ He picked up the fully finished Tunnel Snakes jacket and held it out to the other man. “I think it’s time you became a fully fledged Tunnel Snake.”

\----------

“Dad… Can I talk to you about something…?”

James found he wasn’t very surprised when his 15 year old daughter stood nervously in front of him, her hair cut down extremely short and wearing one of the Tunnel Snakes’ iconic leather jackets. She kept her eyes on the floor as she spoke, her voice barely above a whisper. “I think… I’m a guy.”

James’ mind immediately went to how the other vault dwellers would react, the overseer in particular wouldn’t be happy at all about such a thing. He had certainly met transgender individuals while out in the wasteland, but this vault hadn’t (at least not that he knew of). This could end disastrously. “Are you sure about this?”

The kid looked up at their father and nodded firmly, seeming to have gained some confidence. James moved forward then and hugged his son tightly. “The overseer isn’t going to like it.”

Vince sniffled softly as he hugged his father back just as tightly, shaking from the stress on their shoulders. “I know, I don’t care.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Note added 8/1/2020) This fic is currently being edited! Going to make some edits and change some stuff, nothing major for the first chapter. However, my original plan for this fic will most likely overhauled. I don't know when the next chapter will come out, as it depends on my mental health, so please be patient with me.


End file.
